Cats in the Cradle
by bosswoman88
Summary: Rayna and Deacon face the legacy of an old friend from the past
1. Chapter 1

**This idea started out as kind of a joke and took on a life of it's own….when you picture Vince's son, just think "well, he looks just like Tim Riggins"….:) Let me know what you think of this idea and if I should keep going….**

"Yeah, Babe just give me about two hours," Rayna said, holding the phone between her ear and her shoulder while she signed for the delivery man and took the box in his hands. "There's a guy playing at The Stagecoach that Bucky thinks I should see, I'm going to stop in there and then I'll be home. It's been a crazy day."

Deacon said something on the other end of the phone that rightfully should have made her blush.

"Deacon, really? You have no shame."

Bucky, standing in front of her desk, gave her a look with eyebrows raised.

"I miss ya, that's all." Deacon said on the other end of the line. "Been a lonely week being gone."

"Well, I'll try to hurry," she said with a small secretive smile. "Yep. Love you too."

"So that must be going good, huh?" Bucky asked as Rayna hit the lights and they walked out of her office. "You and Deacon?"

"Yes," Rayna said, satisfied, as she locked the door. "Happiest I've ever been." She always stopped, just for a second at the end of the day lately to stand in the doorway and look around. It reminded her to be grateful. This was all hers. She'd made it, she'd earned it. On her own, not riding off anyone else's fame or fortune.

It was a damn good feeling.

At the Stagecoach, she slipped in the back with Bucky, trying to look inconspicuous. A lot of the hoopla had died down over the breakup with Luke and her relationship with Deacon, and people seemed a lot more respectful now, but she still didn't want to draw attention.

Standing in the back, she waved to a few people she knew, chatted it up a little, and then set her eyes to the guy onstage who was setting up with his band.

"I'm impressed already," she said to Bucky. "What did y'all say his name is again?"

"Rhett Harper. Lots of people in town talking about this one. I wanted you to see it yourself." Rayna had the oddest feeling, watching the stage. It was like watching the shadow of someone from long ago. Something about the way he held that guitar, the way he moved. As soon as Rhett Harper opened his mouth, she reeled a little at the northern Mississippi twang. It was definitely not the "bro-country" she'd been expecting, but more like a mixture of gritty country rock with a little blues edging it out.

"What's up?" Bucky asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I just did," she murmured.

If she didn't know any better she could have sworn Vince Montgomery had just been reincarnated.

It took her about five minutes before the shock wore off, and she could concentrate on the music again.

He was good. Definitely a little rough around the edges. Showed promise. In need of a little refinement. And a damn good haircut.

_Am I imagining this? _She wondered silently. It was entirely possible Vince _could_ have a son. The guy definitely had had his way with women. But he'd been gone….almost 20 years now, she realized. God, 20 years. And yet sometimes it seemed like it had all happened just yesterday.

They didn't talk about Vince. Ever. It had taken Deacon _years_ to even be able to mention his name in a random conversation. It still hurt him, talking about the accident, the friend he'd lost.

She wondered if she should even tell him. Things were so good now, but the tiny silent fear was always there, that something would upset the applecart.

After the show she waited with Bucky until the swarms of college-age girls were done buzzing around Rhett, and then made her way through the crowd.

"Hey there, Rhett. I'm Rayna Jaymes. Highway 65 records?"

The first thing she noticed was that the kid had green eyes. Holy hell.

The recognition in Rhett's eyes was evident, and the surprise, but something else too. Hesitation, maybe. He stuck out his hand slowly. "Well, thanks for coming to see my show, Ms. Jaymes. Hope you enjoyed it."

"Hell yeah, it was great! You currently recording with anyone?"

"Nah," he said with a half smile. "I got a day job, so this is just weekend fun for me. Make a little music, get a little buzz going."

Speaking of buzz, someone walked by and handed him a beer.

Rayna held out a card. "You come and see me in my office, and we'll talk. You might have a pretty decent future with Highway 65."

He looked hesitant. "Thanks for the offer, really, but honestly? I don't have much of a desire to become famous. Thanks for coming to the show, though." He slipped past her to another crowd of waiting admirers.

"What the hell was that?" Bucky asked, bewildered. "Did he just turn you down?"

She stared after the kid. "You know what, Buck? I think he did. Did you get that last song of his recorded?"

"Yeah. I'll send it to you now. You want Deacon to hear it?"

She hesitated. "Yeah, I think I do."

###########################################

Deacon was waiting when Rayna walked in the door at his house a little while later, lounging on the couch with his guitar and the volume off on the tv. "Hey Darlin," he said, setting down the guitar. He reached out a hand and pulled her down onto his lap. "How was your day?"

He'd been out of town for a few days playing a couple gigs and meeting up with an old friend in Atlanta to do some writing.

"It's better now that you're back. Miss you when you're gone," she said with a contented sigh as she settled into his arms and kissed him hello. "Especially when Teddy has the girls. It's too quiet."

"I know what you mean," Deacon said, his mouth curving up into a smirk. "I never realize how much racket the three of you make until I have nothing to listen to except my own breathing for hours."

"Hey now," she laughed. "You love it, you know you do."

"Wouldn't trade it for anything," he agreed.

She loved his smile, always.

"Something's bothering you, though," he said. "What's up? Talk to me."

Rayna sighed. "Well, I told you…I stopped to see this guy play at the Stagecoach? He's good, really good."

"Thinking of signing him?"

"I mentioned it. He pretty much turned me down. It was…strange."

"What? Who in god's name would do that!?"

She hesitated. "I think you'll understand. I want you to hear him first and tell me what you think. Your first honest reaction of what you hear." She reached for her purse and her phone, scrolling to the clip Bucky had sent her, and she pressed play.

As the first guitar riffs started, and then the words….

Deacon looked a little pale. Their eyes met. "Holy hell." They didn't even have to say anything else. Just the fact that he was thinking the exact same thing she had, meant a hell of a lot. He got off the couch and paced back and forth across the living room a few times.

"Did you talk to him?" Deacon could hardly get the words out. He raked a hand through his hair.

"I did."

"Does he…you know…remind you of…Vince?"

"He does. Doesn't look like him but he sure does act like him. Something about the way he walks and talks… And he can sing. And I think…the eyes. It's in his eyes."

"You think he knows?"

"He looked at me like he did. Or he knows something. I think that's why he said no. "

Deacon looked more than a little shook up as he sank back onto the sofa.

"You okay?" She asked softly, slipping her arms around his neck. "I didn't even know if I should tell you. I mean, if you don't want me to meet with him….I totally understand, Deacon."

"Yeah, I'm okay." But he was so quiet. "You go on to bed, huh? I think I'm gonna sit up for awhile, and I know you have to be up early."

"Are you sure?" Rayna said, troubled. "I don't want you to be alone."

"I'm fine," he said quietly. "Please."

So she reluctantly left him in the living room and went to bed, knowing full well she wouldn't get any sleep anyway until he laid down next to her.

Deacon watched her go, and then with a heavy sigh he stood up and got the box from the top shelf in the hall closet. It had been years since he'd touched any of this, probably since right after Vince died. It was full of old pictures and ancient recordings. None of the tapes were labeled, but he knew some of it was real good stuff with different bands. Some of it was just them jamming and screwing around. He knew he was literally opening a pandora's box of memories that had long been forced away, but hearing that voice on Rayna's phone had been a shocker. It was a stunner, he thought, that Vince could really have the legacy of a son he'd never known about. Then again, it could all be a complete coincidence, it could just be some kid with a similar style, but Rayna had seemed damn sure.

He went to the stereo and slipped a random tape into the player, and turned the volume halfway down so it wouldn't wake Rayna.

Even hearing their voices on the recordings….Damn, they sounded ridiculously young…. Vince was forever 26. Best friend he'd ever had, closest thing he'd ever had to calling a brother. His childhood wasn't much better than Deacon's, but in a different way. There were a hell of a lot of kids in that family and they were dirt-ass poor. His dad never could seem to find a job that wasn't temporary. Vince was the oldest. And the most restless. He wanted to get out of that small town just as much as Deacon did.

It brought all the memories to the surface again, all the ones he'd pushed away for so long. The good ones, and the really ugly ones. The black, dark ones he never wanted to think about but were always there. Somehow Vince was always mixed up in both.

Deacon laid back on the sofa and closed his eyes….

_"C'mon Babe, can't you just stay home tonight?" Rayna asked, watching, troubled as he poured himself another drink from the bottle on the counter. "Besides, you've had a lot to drink already. You shouldn't drive. And we've hardly been home in six months. Can't we spend some time alone?" _

_ Deacon took a long swig of the glass in his hand. _

_ She didn't like it when he drank whiskey. Beer was one thing, but whiskey made him a different person, a much ornerier one. _

_ "He's my best friend. Can't go out and have a little fun, once? It's not like him and I don't both bust our asses in your band!" _

_ "Listen," she said quietly. "I know Vince is your best friend, and he is a great musician but…." _

_ "But what? What the hell are you saying, Rayna?" _

_ She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Deacon had been to rehab twice in the last year, and every time she thought maybe it had done him some good, they ended up right back to where they'd started. She loved him, so much it hurt. She felt like she was losing a little more of him all the time. _

_ "He needs to stop partying so much. Or I'm going to fire him." _

_ Deacon got really pissed then, and she watched him sweep his arm across the counter, knocking a stack of papers everywhere. _

_ "Hey, come on, now," she said, leaning down to pick the stuff up. "Why don't you just go in the bedroom and sleep it off, okay?" _

_ No such luck. Deacon grabbed the bottle of whiskey and took a huge swig. "What if I party too much? Are you going to fire me?" _

_ She looked pissed. "You know what? I just might." _

_ "Well do it then! Why don't you get off your high heels and realize you ain't perfect either!" _

_ She was mad, and Rayna was stubborn as hell but for a second in his drunken haze, he saw what she hid. She was hurt. He hated himself more than ever in that moment, but not enough to stop. He didn't know how to stop. _

_ "Vince is dragging you down with him, Deacon. You wanna_ _let him, go right ahead! But I'm not letting you two idiots take me with you!" _

"_Fine!" He yelled. One of their kitchen chair went flying halfway across the room when he knocked it out of the way, splintering when it hit the corner. Everything on the kitchen table hit the floor. He stalked out of the house, slamming the door so hard the walls shook, only pausing to grab the guitar case by the door. In his other hand he still had the bottle of whiskey….. _

_ Three days later, he woke up from that bender in a sleazy motel. _

_ "Oh hell," he squinted at the blinding sunlight coming in through the windows, and glanced over. His head felt like it was repeatedly being jackhammered, and he raised it slightly to see Vince was passed out on the other bed, two girls on either side of him. _

_ Wincing, he surveyed the rest of the room. The needles on the nightstand. The empty bottles and cans. The vomit on the carpet. _

_ He reached over the naked girls and tried to slap Vince awake but the guy hardly moved. _

_ Pulling on his boots, Deacon walked outside. He found a maid shuffling along with her cart going from door to door. _

_ "Scuze me maam, but what town are we in?" _

_ "South Bend?" _

_ "Tennessee?" _

_ "No. Oklahoma." _

_ "Jesus," he thought. "Rayna's going to kill me." _

_ He left Vince there. In Oklahoma. And drove like a bat out of hell. _

_Deacon knew it as soon as he walked into the house, before he looked in the drawers and closets and saw that they were empty. He felt it. _

_ Rayna was gone. _

_ In the bedroom, there was note on the pillow in her familiar scrawl. _

_ I'm so sorry. I love you but I can't watch you kill yourself anymore. _

_ The mess was exactly the way he'd left it. _

_ He knew her. She'd done that on purpose, so he'd know. The blackouts were worse than ever lately. It was terrifying to wake up and realize hours and days of his life were missing. It was scary, and out of control, and he had no idea how to stop it. _

_ Deacon stood there looking at the smashed dishes, the china plates with the flower pattern. She'd picked them out at a thrift store when they had their first apartment and not much money. When they moved, she wanted to keep them. She loved those damn plates. _

_ The broken chair. The half empty liquor bottle. _

_ With sigh, he went to the sink and with a shaky hand poured it out. Then he went around the hosue and retrieved all the bottles from their hiding places and poured them out too. He cleaned up the glass. Then he called Coleman. _

_ "I need help," he said, his voice cracking. _

_ By the end of the day he was back in rehab for the 3__rd__ time. _

Deacon swiped at his eyes now, thinking about all those years of hell he'd put her through. And somehow they'd made it to the here and now anyway.

With a heavy heart, he flipped the stereo off, put the box back into the closet, and went to bed.

"Hey," Rayna murmured as he crawled into bed next to her and slipped an arm across her hip. "You okay?" She rolled over to face him, reaching out to touch his face in the dark room.

He couldn't help but think about the hand fate had dealt. It could have been him in that car just as well as Vince.

"I'm okay," he said quietly. "I got you, don't I? And a family, and everything I need."

_Everything Vince never got the chance to have. _

"You know you do. Just let me know if you wanna talk about it, okay? Don't hold it all in."

"I wanna meet him. Might put a few things to rest, you know?"

"If you think so," Rayna said slowly. "I'll have Bucky call him tomorrow."

"I do."

The next day Rayna had Bucky track down Rhett Harper, and she left him a message. But a few days went by, and a few more messages, and she heard nothing. She couldn't even find him with any more scheduled gigs around town. It was like he had completely disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two Weeks Later….**

Rayna sat at her desk going over end of the month reports, completely engrossed in her laptop. The rest of the building was pretty quiet, everyone else gone home for the day. Deacon sat in a chair, with his feet up on the desk and a guitar in his hands, alternating between scribbling on a notepad and trying to get the chords right on a new song.

This was a regular thing lately, them finding themselves in her office at the end of the day like this when the girls were gone. She loved so many things about it.

But mostly she just loved the man sitting across from her, making her heart smile with his music.

"That sounds amazing, Babe."

"It's gettin' there."

Without even looking up from her computer, she said. "I don't know why you won't just make your next record with Highway 65. Your contract with Belcourt is over. It seems silly to do it anywhere else."

They'd had this tiny non-argument several times already in the last couple months, and it always ended in the exact same place.

"Because," Deacon replied, rolling through another chord. "That would make you my boss."

"Deacon. We dated and played together for 11 years, and then I was your boss for 14 years when you were in my band, how it that any different?"

"You didn't share my pillows and steal my blankets then. I'm pretty sure that now it would be mixing business with pleasure. Don't think I wanna go there."

Rayna stopped scrolling on the screen, and looked over at him with raised eyebrows. "You didn't have any problems mixing business with pleasure last week. Right here on this desk, as I recall."

His eyes lit up with laughter, and so did hers.

He loved it when he got the sass out of her.

"Well when you put it that way…."

She stood up and came around to the other side of the desk, pushed his feet off and perched on the edge. "Listen," she said. "I know how you feel about all this. I just want you to consider it, alright? Everything I said."

"Everything" was that Rayna had been hinting for awhile now that she wanted the two of them to make a record together. On one hand, he knew it would be damn amazing. On the other, things were so good at home, away from the business, that he was feeling pretty adamant about keeping them separate. He'd watched her fall into that mess with Luke. Didn't want it happening to them.

"I'll think about it a little more," Deacon said, standing up, and leaning over to kiss her. "Don't hang around this fancy joint too long tonight, huh?"

"You make it hard to want to," she said with a smile, her arms automatically sliding around his neck. "Besides, the girls will be home in the morning. We better make use of the time alone tonight."

He leaned in to kiss her again but the phone in his front shirt pocket buzzed between them.

He tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't quit.

With a sigh, Rayna reluctantly pulled back from him and plucked the phone from his shirt pocket.

Deacon glanced down at it and slid the answer button to the right. "Hey, Joey, what's up?"

"Hey Deacon, that kid you were talking about? The one Rayna mentioned? He's playing at the Alehouse right now."

"Really."

"Yep. And he ain't half bad, but he started awhile ago. How fast can you get here?"

"Gimme twenty minutes. Thanks a lot, Joe."

Rayna looked at him expectantly as he ended the call.

"Rhett Harper is playing the Alehouse tonight," Deacon said. "I'm gonna go check it out."

She looked a little distressed. "Do you want me to go with you? You're okay with this?"

He could read her thoughts. "Ray, one look at Vince's kid isn't going to make me take a flying leap off the wagon."

"I know that," she said quietly. "But we haven't talked about Vince and what….happened in a long time. I worry about you, that's all."

"Well don't," he said, kissing her once more, "I'll see ya at home in a little while," and then he stepped around her to leave.

Troubled, she watched him go.

_Deacon's come a long way,_ she told herself. _This is what trust is._ _He'll be fine_.

###############################

Deacon was too late for the set, but when he walked into the bar, Joey was waiting for him by the door and pointed out the lone figure sitting towards the end of bar, swilling beers by himself.

_Well alright then_, he thought to himself. _Let's get this over with_.

He slid onto the empty barstool next to the kid, and asked for a water from the bartender.

The kid took another swig of his beer with a smirk, not even bothering to look over at him. "You're in the wrong place if you're not drinkin."

"Quit doing that a long time ago. It's not worth the price." He studied the kid intently. Well, maybe he wasn't quite a kid, but couldn't have been more than early twenties at most. Something in that smirk….he could see what Rayna meant. It was pure Vince.

"Guess that depends on who you ask." Rhett glanced over, and seemed to at that moment realize who'd taken the seat next to him. The smirk faded right off his face. He signaled the bartender for another beer.

"Name's Deacon Claybourne, sound familiar?"

"Well hell, everyone's heard that name." Rhett muttered.

"Guess that depends on who you ask," Deacon echoed his earlier words.

"Listen," Rhett said, looking a little agitated. "You got something to ask me, why don't you ask me flat out."

"Alright," Deacon said calmly. "Are you Vince Montgomery's son?"

"Guess I probably am. Does it matter?"

"You guess? Either you are or you aren't, there's no halfway."

"Listen," Rhett said, raking his hands through his dark hair. "All she ever told me was that he was a musician and he never amounted to much, and that you and him were friends. Found a bunch of pictures of y'all. That's it. You looked a hell of a lot younger."

"That's cuz I was," Deacon said wryly. "You're mother? Where'd you grow up?"

"Moved around a lot. Ma settled us in Georgia when I was 10. She was from Mississippi."

"Sarah," Deacon realized. Vince's high school girlfriend.

"Yeah, that's her."

"I remember Sarah. She was real nice."

"She's dead. Cancer last year."

"Sorry to hear she's gone." He said in a gruff voice. "So ah…what do you know about your dad?"

"He ain't my dad. Never been, never will be. I don't need to know nothing. And it can stay that way. Never needed anything from him, don't need it now. Doin just fine on my own, aren't I?"

Deacon watched Rhett signal the bartender, this time for a shot of whiskey. It was disheartening to watch, and he was clearly hell-bent on getting loaded in a hurry. _God, this was me once,_ he thought. _Pissed at the world, trying to drink it all away. That was both of us. _

He didn't know, Deacon realized. He didn't even know Vince was dead.

"Not gonna lie, Rhett said with a lazy smirk. "When I was little, I used to think maybe you mighta been my dad."

Deacon looked startled. "Well that ain't even possible. Why would you think that?"

"She told me he was a musician." Rhett said. "She used to play the same two records over and over again. I figure it had to be one or the other was my father. One of them was yours."

"What was the other one?"

"Johnny Cash."

Deacon laughed.

Rhett grinned too, and took another sip of his beer.

The smirk in that grin reminded him so much of Vince, it hurt a little. They'd been friends since they were eight years old, more like brothers, really.

"You know, your dad played backup in a lot of those songs on my first record. He was in Ray's band with me for five years."

"Yeah, I know."

"Maybe that's why your mama liked it."

"I don't know…I mean, is this all you came here for? Cuz pretty sure I've said enough. He can stay gone, for all I care. So don't be…you know…callin him up or nothing." Rhett said, a lazy sarcasm to his voice.

"Listen," Deacon sighed. "I gotta tell you…Vince died about twenty years ago. So you don't have to worry about him coming looking for you."

Rhett's shoulders stiffened. "Is that so."

"Yeah. Drunk driving accident."

"Figures," he muttered.

Deacon watched him pound back a few shots, and realized he could drink like Vince too. It was pretty damn alarming.

The guilt over the accident rose to the surface in the back of his mind again. Letting Vince drive. Him getting killed. That night was scarred in his soul forever. He understood why Rayna had been so worried about this whole situation. Vince's death had taken him to the darkest places of his life, and it had taken him years to climb back out of that rock-bottom hole. It had cost him years with her too.

But that had been twenty years ago, and he'd never let himself go anywhere near the edge of that cliff again. He had too much to lose. The guilt would always stay, but the darkness was gone.

"Rayna's been trying to have her people call you," Deacon said, trying another tactic. "How come you ain't called back? You could have a real shot at a contract."

"Guess I forgot."

"Yeah, I bet."

"Listen," Rhett said, turning to him, looked peeved. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, but don't do me any favors, and your wife don't gotta either. Just because my father was some old buddy of yours or something…You don't owe me nothing. Neither of you. "

Deacon didn't bother to correct him on the wife part. Close enough, she was. "Vince was my best friend, closest thing to a brother I ever had. I'm sure if he knew he had a son, he'd have done things differently, and he'd want me to look out for you. I'm real sorry you never got to know him, because-."

"He knew," Rhett cut him off.

"I don't think that's possible."

"My ma said he knew. And he left anyway."

He stared at Rhett. "I don't….that just doesn't seem possible."

"Think what you want," Rhett took another swig. "Maybe we're not talking about the same guy after all." He got real quiet, mouth set in a straight line.

"How old did you say you were?"

Rhett glanced over at him and sighed. "25."

It didn't make much sense, Deacon wanted to believe. But it did, the more he thought about it. How in a goddamn hurry Vince had been to get out of town….

Almost 26 years ago, he'd gotten in a shitty old truck with Vince and left their dusty small town and everything in it for good. Left it all behind. They'd been 19 years old, hell bent on getting out of Mississippi. Reckless. Wild. Somehow thinking they'd make it in Nashville on a few bucks, some guitars, and a pipe dream. There'd been lots of girls back then. That was before he'd met Rayna, though, and before Vince had met Carmen. Then again, Vince had never been too good at being faithful. But he did have a weak spot for Sarah.

"_Come on, Deacon. Dammit. Let's just do it." Vince said, taking another swig of his beer. "What's holding you here?" He crumpled up the empty can in his hand and gave it a toss, and it sailed away in the darkness. _

_They were 50 feet up on the top of the old wooden water tower, on top of the world and nothing above them except the clear night sky and a million stars._

"_Nothin, really." Deacon admitted. "Cept Bev, maybe. She doesn't have anyone else." His mother was in the town cemetery and his father, who had put her there, wouldn't be getting out of the state pen for a hell of a long time. _

"_Your crazy sister and her equally crazy boyfriend will be just fine. Come on." Vince stood up and leaned against the railing. He yelled as loud as he could, the sound echoing through the darkness. "Hey you fuckers! We're outta here, you got that? And we ain't lookin back." _

"_Jesus," Deacon said laughing. He reached out and yanked him back by the shirt. "Sit your drunk ass down before you take a header off this thing and kill yourself." _

"_I'm so damn tired of all of it. This town is killing me, Deac." He said as he slumped down on the platform again. "I gotta get out. If we don't get out now, we never will." _

_Deacon had his own reasons for wanting to get out. They might not be the same as Vince's but they were just as valid. _

"_What about Sarah? You just gonna leave Sarah?" _

_Vince's eyes darkened a little. "Aw, she'll be fine." He waved it off. "Her damn rich-ass parents never liked me anyway."_

_He thought that sounded like a load of bull, but didn't say so. "Well, alright," Deacon said, taking a deep breath. "When we leavin?" _

"_Right now." Vince was already backing down the tower. _

"_Wait-what? It's 1 am and we're half-loaded." _

"_You know," Vince called as his head disappeared below the ladder. "You're turning into a real pussy, man. Live a little." _

"_Last time we decided to live a little a locomotive almost took off the back end of your pickup." _

"_No way," Vince called. "We made it by three feet. Now let's hit that damn highway and get out of dodge, man!"_

_They went past Deacon's house to grab his guitar and throw his clothes in a bag, and went past Vince's to grab his stuff as well. Only problem was at Vince's place, the damn dog in the front yard started barking, and promptly woke up the whole house, sending his daddy out on the front porch with a shotgun to investigate the commotion, and his mother close behind. _

"_Dammit," Vince muttered, tossing his stuff in the back. "Hurry up, let's get out of here before we have a whole damn parade." He said to Deacon through the open window, pulling open the passenger door. "I don't need all my sisters out here cryin." _

"_What in the hell are you doing?" His father demanded. _

"_We're headed for Nashville, pa. I'll call ya in a couple weeks." _

"_Don't be stupid, boy. Get your butt back in here. You gonna break your mama's heart by having her lose another son? Deacon, I thought you had more brains in that head of yours, too." _

_Deacon, in the driver's seat, closed his eyes and swore silently. Of course he'd bring Tommy into it. It was Vince's one weakness, and his father damn well knew it. He'd been twelve when Tommy died, not much more than a kid himself trying to shoulder a grown up's responsibilities while his parents tried to make a living. _

_Vince hopped in the driver's seat. "Floor it," he said grimly. "Let's get the hell out of here." _

_They drove in silence for an hour, and Deacon couldn't help but think of how different it had been going past his own house. There was no one. No one gave a shit whether or not he drove this truck all the way to California, or off the bridge on the other side of town. He really and truly had nothing to stay for. _

_ "It's just cuz they care, you know." _

_ "Hell with that," Vince cut him off. "I ain't gonna stay in this dusty-ass town working my whole life in the damn tire factory and have nothing to show for it except getting blamed over and over again for everything in that damn house that went wrong. You know how that goes. Your pa was ten times worse than mine." _

_ Vince was sure as hell right about that. His father might have been on his ass all the time, but Vince hadn't spend his childhood getting the shit beat out of him for every minor infraction. _

_ "Tommy getting hit by that car wasn't your fault, are you ever gonna stop blaming yourself?" _

_ "Yeah sure," Vince muttered. "As soon as he does." _

_ Neither one of them said any more about it._

_They rolled into Nashville with the sun coming up in front of them. _

"I remember that night like it was yesterday," Deacon said now, shaking his head. "But there's gotta be other reasons."

"Maybe," Rhett said dully, staring into his empty glass. "Or maybe he was just a selfish asshole who only cared about himself."

"Listen," Deacon said with a sigh. "Let me give you a ride home. You got a place?"

Rhett shook off the hand on his shoulder. "Nah, I'm good."

"I wasn't asking. I was tellin."

He'd made that mistake with Vince. He sure as hell wasn't making it with his son.


	3. Chapter 3

Rayna was shocked as hell when Deacon came in the house at nearly midnight, practically dragging the stumbling Rhett Harper with him, and dropped him on the leather couch.

She didn't know whether to be relieved just to have Deacon home, or disturbed by the unexpected inebriated guest.

"Um, Deacon?" she said calmly. "Can I see you in the kitchen please?"

He followed her, hands up immediately in defense. "I didn't really know what else to do with him, Ray, but I couldn't leave him there. He's drunk off his ass."

"I thought you were just going to see him play, not bringing him home!"

"Didn't seem right to let him drive…you know?"

He was shook up, by all of this, she could see it in his eyes.

Her irritation immediately dropped away, and she slid her arms around his neck and hugged him. "I'm sorry, I understand. You okay?"

"Not really," he said slowly. He sank into a kitchen chair, running his hands through his hair. "I mean, Rhett makes it sound like Vince knew Sarah was pregnant before we left. I just can't imagine that he'd do that. That he would have never told me. Maybe he really didn't know."

Rayna bit her lip. "Maybe it's time to look at the facts here, Deacon."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He got a little defensive.

"Well you've….always put Vince on a pretty high pedestal since he died. But he wasn't perfect either. Maybe a lot less perfect than you thought."

Deacon clearly didn't like the sound of that, and Rayna was sorry she'd even brought it up, but it needed to be said. Vince had been a loyal friend to both of them for the six years Rayna had known him. He'd also been an excellent musician, played in her band for awhile. But he'd also been a drunk, a user, a womanizer, and sometimes a flat out damn liar.

"Vince was a good guy, Ray. Don't even go there."

"I'm not trying to….go there," she said softly. "He was a good friend to you. But he was young. You said it yourself, the two of you were only 19 when you left Mississippi. 19 year olds make a lot of mistakes."

He pulled Rayna down onto his lap, and she laid her head against his shoulder. "I just keep thinking…you know….about Maddie. If I would have known, I never would have done that. Just left you on your own. I mean, I know it took me awhile, but….."

"Hey," she said softly. "Let's not go there, okay? Ours was a different situation. He can stay tonight. It's fine."

"Thanks, Ray. I'd like to, you know…talk to him sober once."

He saw something of himself in that kid, Rayna could see it already. Making the same mistakes Deacon and Vince had made. No wonder he was hell-bent on getting the kid in line.

The sounds of a guitar came from the living room, and Rayna walked to the doorway with Deacon close behind her.

Rhett had picked up Deacon's Gibson from the corner and started to play. It was a little off, clearly the result of his drinking.

And they listened.

"He changed the words," Deacon murmured, as they listened to him softly play a little of an old song.

_And he was talkin 'fore I knew it _

_ And as he grew _

_ He'd say, "I aint gonna be like you, dad" _

_ "You know I ain't gonna be like you." _

_ And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoons_

_ Little boy blue and the man in the moon _

_ When you comin home, dad _

_ I don't know when _

_ We'll get together then….._

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard," Rayna said troubled, leaning back against Deacon.

His arms tightened around her. "I gotta do something, Ray. He reminds me so much of us. Me and Vince. Trying to drink everything away…."

She sighed. "You can't save everybody, Deacon."

"Not everybody," he said in a low voice. "Just that one."

###############################################

"Mom, we're home!" Maddie and Daphne came into the house, dropping their stuff by the front door, and making their entrance known in a thunder of footsteps.

They stopped in their tracks at the sleeping form sprawled out on the sofa with his boots on and his unbuttoned flannel shirt.

"What _is _that?" Daphne whispered.

"I don't know, but I hope we're keeping it," Maddie murmured.

"Girls!" Rayna scolded, coming out of the other room to usher them into the kitchen. "Stop staring! He's just a friend of Deacon's who needed to stay for the night."

"Darn, I always wanted a big brother," Daphne said with a snicker.

"Well, he's not staying," Rayna said firmly. "So you just don't bother worrying about him, and sit down and have some pancakes."

Rhett wandered into the kitchen a little while later, stopping in his tracks at the sight of the family sitting down to breakfast.

He looked like hell, Rayna surmised. And she wanted to take a scissors to that long hair immediately.

"Hey, I just uh….gotta use your bathroom, and then I'll be outta here," he muttered. "Thanks for the couch."

Deacon kicked out the chair across the table with his foot. "Have some breakfast."

"Nah, I'm good."

"Sit," Rayna said gently but firmly, getting up to grab another plate. "We can't have you leaving hungry, now can we? That wouldn't be good manners."

"Deacon makes the best pancakes ever," Daphne said tentatively. "Maybe you want some."

With a sigh, Rhett sunk into a chair. "Alright, I guess."

After about five minutes, he realized the two girls had stopped eating and were watching him.

"Why are they staring at me?" He asked Deacon in a low voice.

Rayna sighed exasperatedly and shot Maddie and Daphne a look.

Deacon smirked at him. "Just eat your pancakes. We got somewhere to be."

"We?"

"Yep."

#################################

"You can drop me off back at the Alehouse," Rhett said, staring out the passenger window of Deacon's truck. "My truck's there. Appreciate the hospitality and all, but I gotta keep movin."

"You got a place around here?"

"Nope."

"So what, you just sleep in motels and sleep in your truck, or what?"

"Somethin like that. You probably remember what that's like."

"I sure as hell do. It sucks."

"Yeah, well….I don't like to be attached to anywhere," Rhett muttered . "You can pull over. I'll walk from here."

"We got somethin we're gonna do first." Deacon said firmly.

"Somethin?"

"Yep."

He pulled into the church parking lot.

"What the hell is this," Rhett said with a scorned laugh. "Is Jesus gonna save me from my sins now?"

"We're not going to church services," Deacon said as they sat there staring at the big red building. "It's an AA meeting. You know what that is?"

"Yeah, I know what the hell it is," Rhett said, not even bothering to his displeasure. "No thanks." He got out of the truck and started walking the opposite direction across the parking lot.

"Hey," Deacon reached out and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Would you just listen for a goddamn minute?"

Rhett shook off his hand, and kept walking, head down, hands in his pockets.

"You know, you're going down the exact same road he did," Deacon called from behind him. "You don't wanna be like him? Well, you know what I saw last night? I saw the spittin image of your dad sitting on that barstool. You're going down the same road, kid. I've been down that road. It'll take everything you have, and it's damn hard to turn around and find your way back."

Rhett's shoulders stiffened, but he stopped walking.

He turned around. For a split second, Deacon almost thought the kid was gonna take a swing at him. The last conversation he'd ever had with Vince had earned him a right hook in the face.

"You don't know a damn thing about me," Rhett said angrily. "He wrote me off when I was literally a speck in his eye."

The pain in the kid's eyes was heartbreaking.

"That sucks," Deacon agreed, his voice just as loud. "But I'd like to think if he'd had a little longer on this earth, maybe things would have changed."

"You keep thinking that," Rhett said, shaking his head. "And let me know how it goes for ya. So far thinkin things will change ain't got me nowhere. He's gone. It's too late. My ma waited 25 years from him to come back, and he never did. She didn't even know he was dead. Do you get how pathetic that is?"

"You think she'd want you to keep living your life, like this?" Deacon said quietly. "All I'm asking you to do is walk in there and sit down for thirty minutes. You wanna walk out after that, and we never see you again, I can accept it. But me and Ray will always be here if you need anything. Remember that."

Rhett squinted at the church building, watching other people walk in.

With a heavy sigh, he shook his head, muttering to himself. And he started walking towards the building.

#################################################

Rhett parked himself in the back corner of the back row, behind everyone else, and slumped in a chair trying to look inconspicuous. This was the last damn thing he wanted to be doing, but if it would get Deacon Claybourne off his back, he'd sit there for 30 minutes and then hit the road. He really didn't get why the guy even gave a damn, and this seemed as pointless as hell.

He looked around at the collection of men that had gathered. He didn't know why, but he'd been expecting a bunch of drunk homeless men with bottles in paper bags, and it wasn't the case. Some of them were in business suits, there were a couple kids who didn't even look old enough to get in a bar, and a couple guys who looked older than death.

The guy leading the meeting started spouting a bunch of stuff about making changes and the twelve steps of something or another, and then Rhett was surprised to see Deacon go to the front of the room. _Well damn,_ he thought. _He better not think he's callin me up there, or I'll be outta here faster than you can shake a stick. _Deacon started talking.

He didn't wanna listen, but it was kind of hard not to_. _

"A lot of things I guess you could say contributed to my drinking," Deacon said in a steady voice. "But I guess the one that hurts the most…I watched my best friend get into a car with a bottle of tequila in his hand, and I didn't stop him. He's dead because of that. I know I didn't make him do it, but I didn't stop him either."

He'd talked about a lot of things in these meetings over the years. But this was the first time he'd ever talked about Vince. Everything about the night it happened was still so ingrained in his mind, it felt sometimes like yesterday.

They were playing a gig at some hole in the wall bar in Murfreesborough that night.

_ Rayna watched Deacon after their show talking with the fans that had stuck around the bar. Everyone else around them was half-loaded. She'd been worried about playing a show in a bar, but he said he was fine with it, and she wanted to trust that. Deacon had been out of rehab about six months now, and he was doing amazing. Things were so much better, at home…with their music… She didn't want to say it was because Vince hadn't been around, but was. He'd left Vince behind in Oklahoma. Literally. They hadn't seen him in months. Things were good. _

_ "I'm so proud of you," she said what she was thinking to him now, reaching out to hug him around the waist. _

_ He grinned and leaned over and kissed her. "Let's go on home, huh?" _

_ "Well, if it isn't the happiest damn couple in country music." _

_ The voice from behind them made Rayna's heart sink. _

_ Deacon turned slowly, and Vince was standing there in the bar with a beer in his hand and a crooked smirk on his face, in all his typical "Vince" glory. _

_ "Hey man," Deacon said, unable to hide a little bit of relief to see him. "Where the hell have you been for the last six months?" _

_ "I should ask you the same thing," Vince said. "You left me in goddamn Oklahoma, remember?" _

_ Rayna watched uneasily as they joked around like guys do, fake-punching each other and messing around. It was clear Vince had already had more than enough, he could barely stand, and out of nowhere a tequila bottle appeared from his coat pocket. _

_ "Come on, grab your woman and let's get out of here," Vince gestured towards the door. "We got catchin up to do, man." _

_ Rayna put her hand on Deacon's arm. _

_ He squeezed it, and gave her a reassuring look. _

_ "I'm done with that, Vince," he said. "All of it. Rehab did me a lot of good. You might want to think about it." _

_ Vince stared at the two of them, then just at Deacon. "What the hell, man? You know, you should really lose the ball and chain. We had big plans when we came here, 'member? We were gonna make it big." _

_ "We were 19. And you'd be making it a hell of a lot bigger if you'd cut some of this shit out and go back to your music like you used to," Deacon said, no-holds barred. "You had a good thing going playing in Ray's band and you threw it all away." _

_ "You know what," Vince said, waving the tequila bottle in their general direction. "Screw both of you. I'm outta here. Some friend you are," he muttered. "Ain't no fun and ain't no use to me." _

_ "Don't drive," Deacon said, reaching out a hand to stop him. "Just give me a sec and I'll get the bartender to call a cab." _

_ Vince pushed his arm away, and then pushed Deacon hard. "Get out of my way, man." _

_ Deacon shoved him back. "I ain't kidding. Don't be stupid enough to drive." _

_ Rayna bit her lip, watching the pushing and shoving match. "Come on, guys, enough already!" _

_ Vince took a swing at Deacon, connected with his right eye, and knocked him against the bar. _

_ And then he slammed his way out the door. _

_ "Dammit," Rayna fumed, watching Deacon stumble to his feet. _

_ She fussed over his eye, and he waved her away. _

_ "I gotta go after him," Deacon said out loud. _

_Rayna grabbed his arm. "You are not going after him, Deacon. I know him, he'll pull you right back into that cycle." _

_"He's my best friend, Rayna." Deacon said, his voice rising a few notches. "We watch out for each other. That's what you're supposed to do." _

_ "What am I, Deacon?" She said quietly. "Us? If we mean anything to you, please do not follow him."_

_"Ray, don't stand there and make me choose." _

_"That is exactly what I am gonna do," Rayna said, her eyes a little teary. "Not because I don't care about Vince, but because I love you, and I've seen how hard you worked in the last six months. Let's just call the sheriff, okay? They can go out and look for him. Let's go in and pack up our stuff, and go home." _

_With a sigh, he let Rayna lead him back inside. But he couldn't shake that feeling. _

_ An hour later, as they were leaving the bar, he still had that feeling. _

_ "I'm glad you didn't go," Rayna said, holding his hand across the console. "You're not responsible for Vince's choices, Deacon. Just remember that. I'm really proud of you for being sober." _

_ He squeezed her hand. "Thanks, Ray. For lovin me more than I deserve." _

_ Rayna was driving. Three miles from the bar, she saw the metal pieces in the road before she saw the car, and her heart sunk. _

"_Oh no. No no no….."_

_Deacon jumped out of the truck almost before it was stopped. _

_ "Deacon, no, wait!" _

_ She slammed it into park, and jumped out to run after him. God, please don't let him be dead, she thought. Deacon will never forgive me. _

_The car was pretty much cut in half by the tree it was wrapped around, and all she could see was Vince's arm dangling limply from the window frame. _

_ "We need to get him out," Deacon was pushing her away as she tried to hold him back. "Before it starts on fire." _

_"Stop," Rayna said, tears blurring her eyes as she grabbed his shirt and yanked as hard as she could, yanking him away from all of it. Because in his incoherence, she could see what Deacon didn't. That Vince was already gone. There was no way he could still be alive, and no way they'd ever get him out without some heavy duty metal cutting equipment._

_"Deacon," she said, choking back a sob. "we need to go back to the bar, okay? To call for help." _

_ "I'm not leaving him." _

_She didn't know what to do. It was 2 am. It could be hours before another car came along. _

_ "Deacon, please." _

_ "I'm not goddamn leaving, Rayna!" _

_ "Okay," Rayna said softly, reaching out to touch his face, streaked with tears. "I'm gonna go get help. You need to promise me that if this car starts on fire, you back up, okay?" _

_He was in some kind of daze, shock. Slumped on the ground leaning his back against what was left of the drivers side door. _

_ She didn't want to leave him, but she had to. _

_ When she came back a half hour later with the Sheriff, Deacon hadn't moved from his spot. His eyes were closed. In his hand, he had an empty tequila bottle. _

Rhett raised his eyes, and Deacon's met his from all the way across the room.

"I couldn't save him," Deacon cleared his throat. "I blamed myself for a long time. Even blamed Rayna for awhile. But he was the one who got in the car, I didn't make him do it. I couldn't save him, but I found out a few weeks ago my friend has a son. And I'd like to think, maybe part of my penance is I'm supposed to make sure this kid stays in line, that he gets more out of his life than the 26 years his dad had."

Rhett forced away the pain that squeezed his heart in a vice, and the sick feeling that rose in his stomach.

He listened to the rest of the meeting a little closer.

When they walked out, him and Deacon didn't say a word to each other. But he didn't get in Deacon's truck either. He just stood next to it, hands in his pockets, staring at the ground.

"Well," Deacon said with a sigh. "I got my 30 minutes out of you, so you're off the hook."

Rhett swallowed hard around the rock that seemed like it had settled in his throat. "Yeah, thanks. That was uh….interesting."

"Think you'll come back?"

"I might. Depends."

"You got some place to go?"

"I guess I'll be finding one," Rhett said, his mouth turning up into a half smile. "Maybe I'll stick around Nashville for awhile after all. I don't got nowhere else to be."

"That'd be good," Deacon said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You call if you need anything. Me or Ray. Even if it's just a damn ride home, or a good meal or something."

"Well, uh…see ya."

Rhett put his head down and started walking across the parking lot.

Deacon watched him go, seeing the shadow of his old friend in the way his son walked.

He got in the truck, feeling a lot better after the meeting, after finally being able to talk about Vince, and turned on the radio to drive home. Couldn't wait to get back to Rayna and the girls. They'd been talking at breakfast about going ice skating this afternoon. He was all for it, Rayna not so much.

"_I'll convince her_," he thought with a smile. 

A chill ran down his spine at the old song that hit him through the speakers. He could have sworn he felt Vince then, that if he looked over he'd be sitting in the passenger seat next to him saying _"We're gonna make it, Deac. We're gonna blow the lid off that town, and it'll never be the same. _

_**And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoons **_

_** Little boy blue and the man in the moon **_

_** When you comin over, son, I don't know when **_

_** We'll get together then…. **_

_The song "Cat's in the Cradle" I borrowed from Harry Chapin, I don't own the rest of these characters except for Rhett Harper, I just borrow them for awhile, along with Tim Riggins' face ;) Thanks for reading! _

_Follow me on twitter bosswoman88/amygeurden for updates _


	4. Chapter 4

Rayna never slept as well when Deacon was gone, so when the phone rang at 1 A.M, she was still wide awake, laying in bed with the bedside lamp on low, nostalgically flipping through pictures in an album of when the girls were tiny little things.

She'd never realized until looking back now how many of those pictures Deacon was in, especially Maddie's first few years when they'd been on tour. It was bittersweet, looking at the pictures of him giving Maddie her first guitar. He'd loved her girls before he even knew one of them was his.

She missed that man to distraction when he was gone.

The phone on the nightstand buzzed next to her, and she scooped it up, smiling when she saw his name on the screen.

"Hey Babe, how was your show tonight?"

"It was good," Deacon said, sounded happy but tired. "Real good. But I miss you."

He'd been on the road for three weeks playing shows with a couple other up and coming artists, sort of a tour they'd put together on their own.

"It's so strange, isn't it?" Rayna said, feeling a little wistful. "Me being home and now you're the one on the road." But she liked the way it was now, being home, running her label, reconnecting with the girls, her and Deacon finding their way back to being together. Finally, finally after everything that had happened with Luke, they were slowly but surely getting back to some kind of normalcy.

"Yeah, well, it's been fun," he said. "But I'm ready to be home."

"We miss you," Rayna said. "All Daphne has done is complain about my cooking, my goodness that child."

He laughed. "I've been thinkin bout what you said, you know? About us making your next album together?"

"_Our _next album," she corrected, laughing with him. "You still thinkin about it?"

"Yep. I think we should do it."

"That would be amazing," she said softly. "I can't wait til you're back home and we can talk about it."

"Me too."

The call waiting buzzer made her glance at her phone and she noticed an unfamiliar number.

"Listen, I have another call," she said regretfully. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yep, should roll in sometime in the afternoon."

"I love you."

"Love you, Ray. Tell the girls I miss em."

"They're at Teddy's until Monday. But they'll be happy you're home too."

"You better get that call."

"Bye, Babe."

With a sigh, Rayna ended the call and swiped her phone to answer the next one, puzzled at the unfamiliar number.

"This is the East Nashville Correctional Institute. You have a collect call from Rhett Harper. Will you accept the charges."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding," she said aloud. So much for normalcy. They hadn't heard from Rhett in weeks again. She knew Deacon was more bothered by it than he was letting on, but Rhett _wasn't_ a kid. He was 25 years old. They'd tried to help him in more ways than one, and if he didn't want it, Rayna couldn't really see anything else they could do.

Except apparently now the help he wanted was bail money.

_Boy if this isn't déjà vu_, she thought wryly. She couldn't even count on both hands the number of times she'd answered these calls in their younger days, usually because Deacon and Vince were mixed up in something that involved alcohol and one of their irascible tempers getting them into trouble.

"Will you accept the charges?" The automated voice asked again.

"Yes," she said, even though she knew she'd probably regret it. "I'll accept the charges."

Rhett's voice came on the other end of the line a few minutes later. "Hello?"

"Hello?"

"Rayna? Uh….is Deacon around?"

"No, he isn't."

Silence from the other end of the phone.

"There something you wanted to ask me, Rhett? That's so important you're calling from jail at 1 a.m.?"

_Like hell am I gonna have Rayna Jaymes come down here and bail me out of jail,_ Rhett thought silently. He'd rather sit until morning with the rest of the drunks and purse-snatchers.

"Nope. Sorry I bothered you."

The line went dead.

"What the hell," Rayna said staring at her phone. _"_Someone owes me for this one_," _she grumbled as she hung up the phone and climbed out of her comfty bed to get dressed. She was already going over the lecture she was going to give that boy in her head.

##############################

When Rayna walked into the station an hour later, the officers on duty were clearly stunned that the Queen of Country was suddenly in the business of bailing out criminals.

"Hey Ms. Jaymes, you think I can get your autograph for my daughter?" One of them dared to ask.

_Great, this'll be on the front page of tomorrow's paper, _Rayna thought with distaste_. _She gave him a pleasant smile. "No autographs tonight except on those release papers. Can I have my prisoner please? And by the way…." She added. "Since my ex husband is the mayor who controls the funding for this big old place…..I'd love to keep this out of the papers."

"Sure thing, Ms. Jaymes. We won't say a word."

"Thank y'all so much."

They made quick work of the papers, and a few minutes later her "prisoner" walked out into the lobby. Rhett looked a lot more sober than she had been expecting. He had a cut on his lip and his jaw was already sporting a nice purple and black bruise.

Rhett stopped in his tracks, surprised to see Rayna herself standing there.

"Deacon is in Charlotte," she said by way of explanation. She didn't look too happy. At all.

He felt like the biggest ass in the world.

The instant they got into the truck, before she even started driving, Rayna turned to him.

"Now listen," she said firmly. "This was your one free pass, Rhett. I think you're mostly a good guy, and you're a great musician. Don't ruin it by drinking everything away. I don't like to see you turning yourself into some kind of Hank Williams tragedy. I've seen it done way too many times."

It never ever was far from her mind, especially lately, that Deacon could have been in that car with Vince.

"I wasn't drinkin."

He hadn't been drinking much at all lately. Though he was too damn stubborn to ever say it outloud, that AA meeting had stuck in his mind a hell of a lot more than he wanted it to.

"Mmm hmmm," Rayna said, unamused. "I got some oceanfront property in Memphis to sell ya, too."

Rhett sighed. "I wasn't. Some guy next to me was pushing around his girlfriend, and like an idiot, I got in the middle of it."

She glanced over at him. "Okay."

"Okay, that's it, you're not gonna give me a whole line of questions or have Deacon drag me to anymore AA meetings?"

"Nope. I think you're plenty old enough to make your own life decisions. I just hope you make good ones."

A memory emerged from the back of Rayna's mind, of a situation just like this one.

_The crowd at Countryfest had been crowded to start with, but after their show ended, they were even more hyped up, and the booze was flowing like tap water. _

_ Rayna stood off to one side watched the next band to go on. It was hotter than hell out, and Deacon and Vince had been gone for way too long getting more beers. _

_ A middle aged guy in a cut off flannel shirt who had clearly had too much already sauntered his way up to her. _

_ "Hey baby, how bout you and me find somewhere to have our own party?" _

_ "Uh…no thanks," she said distractedly, her eyes searching the crowd again for Deacon. "I'm just waiting for my boyfriend to come back." _

_ He put his hand on her arm. "You're such a pretty little thing, I bet we could have more fun than that boyfriend of yours." _

_ Irritated and disgusted, she shook his arm off. "I said no thanks. So if I were you-." _

_ Vince appeared from behind the guy, his green eyes flashing. "If I were you," he said calmly. "I'd take your hands off my friend before I break em." _

_ As grateful as Rayna was to see him, she could see exactly where this was going in a hurry. _

_ "Vince, I'm okay," she reassured, reaching out to take his arm and pull him back. "Let's just find Deacon and get out of here." _

_ But the two men stared each other down, and it was the other guy who threw the first punch. Before Rayna knew it, they were both down in the dirt beating the crap out of each other. _

_ "Hey, stop!" She yelled, but it was pointless. Before she knew it, other people had joined in, including Deacon, who shoved the beer bottles in her hand, and immediately, maybe a little too eagerly got in the middle of the melee. _

Rayna shook her head, remembering. She'd ended up bailing both Vince and Deacon out of a local Georgia jail that night.

"Why the hell are you smiling?" Rhett asked.

"I saw your dad do something like that for a girl once," she said nonchalantly.

Rhett got real quiet. "So you knew him pretty good then."

"We were friends, yes."

"He played in your band?"

"For awhile, he did."

"Just awhile?"

Rayna sighed "Well I fired him," she admitted. "I had to. He didn't make the best choices, but…. we were all young. Guess part of growing older is accepting that and making better ones. He was a good friend to Deacon, though. And to me too."

"Is this your half-ass way of telling me to straighten up?"

Rayna glanced over at him and raised her eyebrows. "Well you don't have anyone else to tell you to do it. So yeah, I guess it is."

Rhett gestured to the stop sign ahead. "Take a right there. My place is around the corner."

"So you're sticking around Nashville, then?"

"Got nowhere else to be," he said with a shrug. "Got a day job on a road construction crew. Might as well."

"Your mama doesn't have any family around?"

"Nah, it was just me and her. She wasn't sick long. It….happened fast."

"You know, Vince had a pretty big family," Rayna said cautiously. "I never met em, but I think he had quite a few sisters, and a brother. They might still be around, a little ways out of Jackson."

His eyes darkened. "Yeah well, I done fine without any of em this far, it can stay that way."

"Right," she said, troubled. "Did Deacon tell you about your uncle Tommy?"

"Tommy was my uncle? Well that makes a hell of a lot more sense."

Rayna looked at him questioningly.

"She kept mentioning Tommy before she died. Thought she was just confused."

Rayna sighed. "Vince had a younger brother named Tommy. He got hit by a car and killed when he was six."

"Didn't know that," Rhett said in a low voice, staring out the window. "Must have been hard on him."

"He blamed himself, and he shouldn't have. He was only twelve," she said, troubled. "But he never really got over that. Everyone has their demons, you know?"

"Can't argue with that."

"Just don't let yours eat you alive, Rhett. Okay?"

He didn't say much after that.

Rayna pulled to a stop in front of the apartment building. It wasn't anything fancy by any means, but she remembered too well what that was like. Trying to make it on your own, too proud to ask anyone for help.

"Thanks," he said as he opened the door. "Really. I appreciate it, and I'll pay you back for the bail and all."

"I know you will, I'm not worried."

She pulled an envelope out of her purse. "Deacon found this a few weeks ago. He had it sitting out to give to you, so I thought I'd go ahead and pass it along. He thought you might want to have it."

"What is it?" Rhett opened the envelope and was surprised to see an unlabeled cd.

"He burned it off an old tape he found," Rayna said quietly. "It's Vince's."

Rhett shoved it back in the envelope, and dropped it on her front seat like he'd been burned, and slammed the door. "You can keep it."

"Just listen to it," Rayna said through the open window as he turned to stalk away.

_Damn this guy_, Rayna thought as she threw the truck in park, grabbed the envelope off the seat and got out. She was two steps behind him. "Hey," she demanded. "Hold up for a minute. You know you could at least-."

Rhett stopped and turned. "Listen," he cut her off. "I'm real grateful and all for all you and Deacon have done for me, but stop pushing the goddamn issue like I'm supposed to feel sorry for him or something. He was never anything to me, and he's dead so he ain't never gonna be."

"Please," she said in earnest, pressing the cd case into his hand. "Just listen to it."

"Why?"

"Because I think he wrote it about your mother."

Rhett's mouth wavered a little. But this time he kept the envelope in his hand.

"Did you….ever meet her?"

"No," Rayna admitted. "But Deacon did. And Vince talked about her sometimes. Sounded like she was beautiful, and smart too."

"She was," he said, his voice getting a little hitch. "Both. Went back to college when I was 6 and became a teacher."

"You should be proud of her, raising you on her own like that," she said, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "You should be real proud, Rhett."

"She took me to one of your shows once," Rhett said slowly. "I was about ten. She said someone gave her the tickets, but I think she paid a lot cuz we were right up front row. We ate a lot of noodles for about a month after that."

"I didn't know that. That was pretty nice of her to do that for you."

"I think maybe….I don't know, she thought he'd be there or something," Rhett said soberly. "That he'd be on stage and see us standing there?"

It made Rayna's heart hurt for him. "If you were ten….He was already gone by then. Rhett, I'm so sorry."

Funny, the hand fate dealt, she realized. She'd heard the story many times about Vince and Deacon leaving in the middle of the night hell-bent for Nashville by dawn. If Deacon wouldn't have decided to leave with him….they might have never met, and it'd all be different. Their entire 26 year history had started with Vince. In a way, he'd given her Deacon, at the cost of Rhett having a father.

"Well, it didn't turn out all bad," Rhett said with a half-smile, sadness around the edges of it. "That concert is what made me wanna learn to play the guitar."

"Is that right?"

"Yep," he said, laughing softly. "I drove ma crazy begging for a guitar for Christmas that year."

"You know," Rayna said quietly. "I think….well, I think he did love her, Rhett. I know he did. And somehow they got you out of that, so it wasn't all bad."

"Guess not," he said.

"You can thank me by showing up in the studio this week, how about that?"

"You're never gonna give up on me are ya?"

"Now you're getting the idea," she said with a smile. "Now you better go in there and put something on that eye. It's swelled up real pretty already."

"Yes ma'am."

He just shook his head and gave Rayna a grin that reminded her so much of the friend she and Deacon had lost and the father Rhett had never known. She watched as he walked toward the building, head down, one hand in his pocket, the other holding the envelope she'd given him.

Rhett didn't know it, but he was family now. And you never gave up on family.

#############################################

Rhett unlocked the door to his mostly still empty apartment, dropped the envelope on the kitchen counter, and grabbed a cold can of beer out of the fridge. That envelope just sat there, taunting him. He must have stared back at for ten minutes.

"Oh hell," he muttered, grabbing it up. He took the cd case out, opened it up and walked over to the stereo, sitting on an upended crate in the corner, and put it in before he could change his mind.

Then he slumped on the couch and held the beer can to his eye.

The deep bass voice caught him offguard, being solo like that. He'd only ever heard Vince in the background of Rayna Jaymes' earlier songs.

He could hear himself in that voice. But he could hear a lot more too. The regrets of a man who had done things he could never undo.

_ And it's one Mississippi, two Mississippi _

_ Counting down the seconds _

_ Standing in the wreckage of love _

_ On a cold grey Jackson dawn _

_ And I know _

_Everybody's got their demons _

_ Everybody's got their reasons _

_ Why they leave when they run…. _

_ I'm half of what I used to be _

_ One Mississippi _

With a shaky sigh Rhett picked up the envelope again. Something else fell out and drifted to the floor, and as he reached for it, he realized it was an old polaroid.

He picked it up, and stared down at the scrawl written across the bottom in faded pen. _Vince and Sarah 1987 _

The two faces looked impossibly young, maybe not older than high school aged. His mom with her long blonde curls was laughing, and the teenage boy next to her had his arm around her shoulders. His green eyes were looking at her like she was the only thing in the world, like she _was_ his world.

His mother's words the day she died came back to him, and it made his chest ache so bad, he could hardly breathe. _You know you got his eyes. If you ever find him, Rhett. You tell him I loved him, and I'm not mad he had to go. Me and Tommy will be watching out for you. _It hadn't made sense then, but it did now. And maybe, he thought, maybe when his ma had hit those heavenly gates, she'd been real happy to find Vince already there waiting for her with the baby brother he'd lost.

It soothed his soul a little to think of that.

The words of the song that Rayna had echoed hit him hard. _Everybody's got their demons._

He swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Sorry I never got to know you, Dad." he whispered.

But he'd sure do his damnest to make him proud.

**The song I borrowed is One Mississippi by Brett Eldredge **

**Thanks for reading! Follow me on twitter bosswoman88/amygeurden **


	5. Chapter 5

**I had so much fun "creating" Vince's son Rhett Harper (with Tim Riggins' face ;), thought it might be fun to do a couple chapters imagining where he'd be 10 years later, and who is in his life…this first one is a short chapter, but I just wanted to see what you guys thought of the idea…**

"Home sweet home," Rhett said with a sigh as the bus pulled to a stop behind the Soundcheck warehouse, and the guys clamored off. Some of them had families they hadn't seen all summer. The rest of 'em were just eager to celebrate a successful tour by going out and getting hammered.

"Yep," said the guy in front of him, his drummer, as he descended the steps. "Home Sweet Nash. Land of wanna-be's with fake boots and giant hats clogging up the streets."

Rhett smirked, knowing Jack's pretty wife had been one of those "wanna-be's" at one point. They all had. Nashville was a city of dreams, alright. Some people made it, some people didn't. Sometimes it was about talent, but sometimes it was just pure luck. Being in the right place…at the right time…with the right people listening.

Rhett considered himself one of those fallen into that "damn lucky" category.

He'd come a long way, since his first days in town. A couple solo records that did okay, but more co-writes and songs on the radio that other big names were singing than anything, along with a lot of smaller headlining tours with his band Wildfire backing him up. Sure, he'd never be a superstar, but he'd never set out to be famous anyway. He was content where he was, doing what he loved. He was more than getting by, and life was good. Besides, he wasn't crazy about the way the performing part of the industry went these days. What the hell was the point of having any talent if every little thing was computerized and auto-tuned, he didn't know.

"You coming out to tie one on with us?" One of the other guys from the band asked as they made short work of unloading the bus, sorting out luggage and guitar cases. They'd just spent 3 months on the road playing state fairs and festivals all over the Midwest. A week at home, and they were hitting the road again for a few shows in Texas and Arizona before hitting up the west coast.

Rhett shook his head. "Nah, Rayna wants me to stop at the house while I'm in town." He didn't drink as much as he had in his younger years, maybe a few beers every now and then after a show, but not those all-nighters he used to do. He had too much to lose now to go and do something stupid like getting a DUI or getting into a bar fight. "You know she'll have a fit if she finds out I've been home for more than one night and not stopped in."

He had an apartment downtown, but hell if he'd been there more a month total out of the last year. Things were busy. There was a lady who collected his mail and forwarded it to wherever he happened to be a few times a month, and watered his one plant. But it was just a place.

His home, where he was most comfortable, was on the road.

"You're losing your touch, Harper," Joe, the bass guitarist called.

He waved 'em away and headed for his truck, which had been delivered as promised. Thank god for small favors. "Have fun, boys. Enjoy your week off."

Within an hour, he was standing on the front porch of Rayna and Deacon's house in East Nashville.

Rayna and Deacon were about the closest thing to family he had. Sure, there were supposed to be a bunch of his dad's siblings, aunts and uncles and probably cousins in Mississippi, but he'd never really had the desire to go looking for his father's family, and he refused to play any shows within 100 miles of that town. Deacon had tried to convince him a few times to do otherwise, but that was a conversation that never went far before it got dropped.

The door was flung open before he could reach his hand up to knock, and it wasn't Rayna or Deacon or his 9 year old godson Cash who had opened it.

It was a tall slender woman with long wavy dark hair, and deep brown eyes. Familiar eyes.

He was a little stunned. More than a little. He felt like he'd had the wind knock him 20 feet backwards.

"Hey, Rhett. Long time no see."

He blinked. _No way in hell. That can't be…_.

"Maddie?"

She laughed. "Course, it's me, silly. Has it been that long?"

Rhett shook the haze out of his mind. It _had_ been that long, probably five or six years since their paths had last crossed. He had done a lot of projects off and on for Rayna over the years, and was technically considered part of the Highway 65 family. That meant he stopped in town to see Rayna and Deacon whenever he was in town, but Maddie was usually not around. The last time he'd seen her, she'd barely been out of high school, and headed off to college, at her parents' insistence.

He'd heard things, though. Her name was making the rounds among the "high and mightys" in the industry, especially lately and with the recent scandalous breakup of her and her musician boyfriend.

Mostly he'd heard she was damn good, and everyone was wondering why the hell her name wasn't in neon lights yet, considering that her mother was the queen of country. Rayna didn't tour nearly as much anymore, preferred to run her label, but she'd always be the Queen in this town.

"You grew up," Rhett said, and his eyes also said he approved. She sure as hell had. Grown up in all the right places.

Maddie's face flushed a bit, feeling his gaze scan her up and down. "Well, you did too, I guess," she said, teasing. "You finally got all that hair cut off, huh?" But the buzz cut suited him.

"Thanks, but I hate it. My neck's always getting sunburned. Kate made me do it. Said even Blake had to do it eventually."

"Oh, Cougar Kate's still your manager, huh?" The nickname slipped out before she could even stop herself, and Maddie clapped a hand over her mouth, embarrassed. "Oh god, I'm sorry!"

"Yep." He grinned. "Don't worry, I won't tell." Kate Jefferson had been his manager for the last 6 years, and her reputation around town proceeded her. She was older than him by 10 years, blonde, gorgeous, and could swear like a sailor. She also knew how to get shit done, and she never took no for an answer.

Maddie could feel his greenish-blue eyes still watching her intently, and she dragged her gaze to his. It took her breath away a little.

She'd never felt anyone look at her that way before.

Like he instantly knew all her secrets.

Then Deacon's voice rang out behind her as he walked in from the kitchen. "Hey Rhett, good to see ya."

Rhett raised his hand in greeting, but his eyes never strayed.

"Maddie, why the heck are you just standing there? Let the guy in."

"Right," Maddie murmured, stepping aside, reluctantly breaking his gaze. She glanced back at her dad. "I was just on my way out. Tell Mom I said I'll see her this week."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Deacon said suspiciously, looking from one of them to the other.

Rhett shook away the odd feeling he got in his gut as he stepped into the house, and Maddie awkwardly stepped around him to leave.

He brushed her arm by accident, and he heard her suck in a breath.

Their eyes locked once more, just for a second, but it was enough.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as she quickly ascended the steps and headed for the red sports car parked on the road in front of his truck.

Deacon eyed him up warily as Rhett stepped into the house and closed the door behind him.

"What?" Rhett said mildly.

"I got five words for you, kid."

He wasn't going to correct Deacon, and remind the guy that he was 35 years old and not a messed up 20 something anymore. Some things never changed.

"What's that?"

"Don't even think about it."


	6. Chapter 6

**One week later…**

Maddie breezed into Rayna's private Highway 65 office, and dropped into an upholstered chair in front of her desk. "Hey, Mom, what's up?"

Rayna raised her eyebrows, and looked up from her laptop. "Well hey, sweet oldest daughter of mine. Fancy seeing you here today. I didn't forget lunch, did I?"

Maddie's face flushed. "No. Just not doing much this afternoon, and thought I'd stop in and say hi."

"Oh, well, that's nice," Rayna said cheerfully, not buying it for one second. "You have anything new you wanna try? We have a couple open studios."

She hesitated. "I do have some new stuff, but…I don't think I'm ready yet, Mom." Truth was, she'd spent the last two months doing nothing _but _write and play, mostly by herself. Unfortunately all her songs lately were about the same thing; heartache. "Soon, though. I'm excited to get back to work."

"You think any more about what I said? About finally making a record? I think you could do it, sweetheart. I know you're doing fine for yourself, selling your songs and all, but you're so good, Maddie," Rayna said earnestly. "You know you are. You're a triple threat, the perfect kind of artist."

They'd had this discussion many times before. Maddie shook her head slowly. "I love performing, but those huge shows like you used to play…. I like when I can see the person in the front row….AND the back row, you know? I love performing….but I don't want it to get so huge that it stops being fun and turns into work. That's not me."

"I know," Rayna smiled. "You know exactly who it _is_, though."

Maddie laughed, and Rayna did too.

They both knew she was talking about Daphne. Daphne was different. She wanted the biggest spotlight, she wanted the fame, and she was already busting her butt to make it as a solo artist at the age of 20. She'd been out on the road all summer long as the first opener for Juliette Barkley. She was _not_ enthused about having to plod through another year of college.

Maddie thought, amused, like she often did that Daphne had always been a little more like their mom. "She's still trying to get you let her drop out of school, huh?"

"They're in Indiana this week," Rayna rolled her eyes. "I talked to her yesterday, she'll be home in two weeks and then I'm shipping her back to Boston whether she likes it or not."

"Yeah, I talked to her last week," Maddie said, shifting in her chair. "So anyway…"

"You planning on telling me why you're really here? Looking for someone in particular, perhaps?"

"No, why would you think that?" Maddie said a little defensively.

"No reason," Rayna shrugged as she changed the subject and they made small talk about the latest artists her mom had signed, and Cash's last soccer game.

But Maddie's mind was still on the last conversation, Rayna could tell as she thoughtfully watched and wondered.

She was relieved to see the light back in Maddie's eyes, the interest in getting back to her music. To say the last couple months had been tough on their daughter was an underestimate.

Maddie had gone through a very public breakup of her long-time relationship with Jake Ralston a few months ago. Jake was a fellow musician, on a rival label no less, with several hit songs just currently exploding all over country radio. Maddie had co-written one of those songs with him, and in return he'd gotten offered a solo album and basically chosen the fame over her.

Deacon was still ticked that she hadn't taken the credit- and the royalties- for that song she deserved.

_I just want it over, Dad,_ Maddie had said more than once. "_I don't care about the money. Let them play the hell out of that song on country radio now, and in three months it'll be all done." _

Rayna more than anyone knew what that was like, to have your heartbreak aired out in the public eye. She'd went through that years ago when she broke her engagement with Luke Wheeler, and the thought of it still annoyed her. The press had called her everything from a psycho to a sex addict, to a man-whore.

Still, she had to admit it was tragic that Luke was nothing more than another country music legend now, after that awful plane crash a few years ago in which him and 6 fellow members of his record label had died.

"Dad around here today?" Maddie tried again.

"Yes," Rayna said carefully. "Rhett's got a few new songs he wants to get down while he's in town before he leaves again, and he asked your dad to play backup. But then again, I presume you already know that since you and Rhett have been…communicating."

Maddie's face turned pink, and she avoided her mother's knowing eyes as she answered. "It was just coffee, mom. We ran into each other at the house last week, and he…well, I don't even know how he got my number," she admitted. "Did you give it to him?"

"I most certainly did not. But it sounds like it was a nice time."

"Yeah," she said with a little smile. "It was." A 'cup of coffee' had turned into about three, but she hadn't minded one bit, sitting in the little corner booth catching up with Rhett on each other's lives.

"Too bad he's leaving town again at the end of the week."

Maddie's expression fell, and Rayna didn't miss that, no matter how hard her daughter tried to hide it.

"Oh, so he's not sticking around, huh," she asked casually. "He didn't tell me that."

"I think he's going out on the Hayes Walker tour, but you'll have to ask him," Rayna said as she stood up and gathered some papers off her desk. "I have to be getting to a meeting, but that offer for an empty studio this afternoon still stands. And by the way, your dad and Rhett are down the hall in number 7. Just in case you're interested."

"Mom! Could you be any more obvious," Maddie grumbled as she gathered her bag and stood up. "And besides, I told you it was just coffee. You know I don't date musicians anymore. The next guy I date is going to be something completely ordinary. Like a dentist. Or a car salesman."

Rayna shook her head with a smile. She walked around the front of the desk and gave her daughter a tight hug. "You're too special for ordinary, Maddie. Remember that."

###############################################

Maddie couldn't help but replay Rayna's words in her head as she walked down the hallway. Her parents were the best. They'd always been there to support her, through the best and worst of times, even through all that happened with the breakup with Jake. Her dad had never been crazy about Jake in the first place, and if it weren't for Rayna's constant, gentle reminders that it wasn't _their_ life, Maddie was sure Deacon might have tempted more than once to storm over there and wring the younger man's neck.

Their love story was her inspiration. She could only hope to be lucky enough to find something so powerful one day, that could withstand so many trials and tribulations of time.

She hadn't found it with Jake, that was for damn sure.

The butterflies in her stomach unwillingly started going crazy she saw Rhett was indeed busy in the recording room with her father.

Maddie slipped into the sound booth, careful not to bang the door as she closed it behind her. She leaned against the back wall and listened.

"Hey," Darryl, the guy running the board gestured to the chair next to him. "Let me know what you think."

Darryl had recorded enough of her own songs that they knew each other well.

He might have said something else, but the words of that song made everything else turn fuzzy around her as she slipped into the empty chair and lost herself in Rhett's voice.

_I told you I wouldn't call, I told you I wouldn't care _

_ But baby climbing the walls gets me nowhere _

_ I don't think I can take this bed _

_ gettin' any colder _

_ Come over, come over, come over… _

_ You can say we're done the way you always do _

_ It's easier to lie to me than to yourself _

_ Forget about your friends, you know they're gonna say _

_ We're bad for each other, but we ain't good for anyone else _

When they finished the song, she leaned over and hit the speaker button. "Perfectly done, guys."

Rhett and her dad both looked up, surprised at the sound of her voice.

Rhett's eye caught hers through the glass, and a slow knowing smile slid across his face.

_I knew you'd come, _his eyes said. He didn't know what he'd been thinking yesterday, conning one of Rayna's front office girls into handing over Maddie's cell phone number, asking her out for coffee, like…well, he wasn't sure what the hell they were. All he knew was since that day on that front porch a week ago, he hadn't been able to get those brown eyes and that pretty smile off his mind. He didn't know what he'd been thinking when he'd told her to come down here for the session today.

But he knew exactly what he was thinking now.

And it sure as hell wasn't helping much that her daddy was sitting three feet away from him, giving him the death stare, probably reading his mind way too well.

Yes it had been told that Deacon Claybourne was more than a little overprotective of his daughters.

"You want to run through that first song once more?" Deacon said gruffly, interrupting their little staring contest.

Rhett shook his head. "It's missing something, you know it is. And I think I finally got it figured out." He set his guitar aside, and walked out of the recording room, into the booth where Maddie waited.

Deacon didn't look too damn happy about that at all, but the phone in his pocket buzzed and he pulled it out and glanced at it. Rayna. Texting him from her office ten minutes ago. _Maddie's coming down there. Don't you dare say anything. _

She knew him too well. It would have been amusing if it wasn't his _little girl_ now standing on the other side of the glass making eyes at Rhett Harper, son of his late best friend. Sure, Rhett had cleaned up his act a hell of a lot in the last ten years, but that didn't meant he'd ever been good enough for their Maddie. It didn't matter if she was 25 or 40. No guy ever would, in his opinion.

He thought about going in there and casually busting up their little flirtfest, but the phone buzzed in his hand. Rayna.

Grumbling, Deacon stepped out into the hall to talk to his wife.

########################################

"Come down here to watch your dad bust my chops?" Rhett said, amused, as he stepped into the booth.

He liked to the way her laughter rang out, echoing off the walls of the small space.

"My dad loves you," Maddie said. "You're practically family. He's just…overprotective. And we haven't done anything except have coffee. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I'd say." Rhett watched her, intently, and took her by the hand. "Come on," he says pulls her into the booth. "I knew I wanted you to come down here for a reason. Just didn't know what it was yet."

She laughed again. "Rhett, I'm not gonna sing with you."

"I think that might be exactly what this one needs, I need to make it a duet."

Maddie's laughter faded, and she looked hesitant.

Rhett knew why. He didn't know all of it, but he knew enough. "Listen," he said softer, quieter. "You can't let him win, Maddie. Don't let him silence you. You're too good for that."

It touched her heart, the way nothing else had in months. It reminded her that that part of her was still very much alive.

"Okay," she found herself saying.

"Okay?" he echoed.

"Yeah. Okay. I'll sing with you."

His face slid into a crooked grin.

_This is a terrible idea,_ she thoughtas she sat down in the seat her dad had vacated earlier. _ Just terrible. _

Terrible, and maybe wonderful_. _

Rhett started playing, andMaddie came in with him, reading the lyrics off the piece of paper he'd handed her earlier, tapping her fingers against her knee to get the beat he'd set on his guitar.

_Baby, here I am again _

_ Kickin up dust in the canyon wind _

_ Waiting for that sun to go down _

_ Made it up Mulholland drive _

_Hell bent on getting high _

_ High above the lights of town _

_Cause you and tequila make me crazy _

_Run like poison in my blood _

_One more night could kill me, baby _

_One is one too many _

_One more is never enough _

_30 days and 30 nights _

_Been putting up a real good fight _

_And there were times I thought you'd win _

_It's so easy to forget _

_The bitter taste the mornin left _

_Swore I wouldn't go back there again _

_Cause you and tequila make me crazy _

_Run like poison in my blood _

_One more night could kill me baby _

_One is one too many _

_One more is never enough _

_When it comes to you _

_Oh the damage I could do _

_It's always your favorite sins _

_That do you in…._

Maddie's voice trailed off on the last note, and Rhett finished it off on his guitar, and they just sat there, both a little shocked at how much better than expected that had flowed.

She felt like her face was on fire. Rhett just sat there staring at her with an intense expression on his face.

_My god_, she thought, stunned. _What the hell is this?_

It took her back to all the stories she'd heard from her mom, her cousin Scarlett…

_Something happens_….Scarlett had told her. _You just know. When you can't separate them anymore. _

_ "What?" Maddie asked. _

_ "The person and the music and what you feel."_

_ Maddie shook her head. "I don't know what that's like. I mean when Jake and I sing, it sounds great but…" _

_It won't just sound great," _Scarlett had told her. "_You'll feel it. All the way to your soul."_

And Scarlett would know. She and Gunnar had been together for years now, both on and off the stage, raising Gunnar's teenage nephew for awhile, making a successful rise to fame as both a duo and a band with Avery Barkley

She thought of what her mom had said also. _The first time I ever sang with your dad….I remember I just felt different afterwards. Everything was different._ _He became my whole world. _

Maddie shook away the tingling feeling that was building in her finger tips and unwillingly running up her arms, through her whole body. This wasn't that. This was just a song, she told herself. A damn good song, but just a song nevertheless. She couldn't let it be anything more. 

A grin crept up the corners of Rhett's mouth.

"What?" she said, unable to hide her own smile. "What are you sitting over there smiling at?"

"Just thinkin' that I remember the first time I met you," he said, laughing softly. "You were about 15. Sitting at the breakfast table with your sister eating pancakes."

Maddie's face reddened. "God, we were dorks. I can't believe you remember that."

"Course I do," he said easily. "You were cute."

"You were 25!"

"I said you were cute," Rhett corrected. "You were a girl."

"And what am I now?" She said defensively.

"Now," he said softly. "You're beautiful."

Maddie felt the blush travel up her neck all over again.

_It's just a song,_ she told herself.

But her dad's words once upon a time also came back to her.

_It's never just a song, Maddie. It's never just a song._

#########################

Neither one of them seen that Deacon had come back into the booth and listened to their impromptu duet, arms across his chest, his expression turned down into a frown.

He didn't want to hear this, see this, or generally have anything to do with the idea of Maddie and Rhett doing anything within 10 feet of each other.

But he couldn't lie that it was the craziest feeling of déjà vu he got standing there watching them, listening to the way their voices melted together in perfect sync, like two people who had become one. Reminded him of another pair he'd known once.

"Did you get that down?" He asked the producer.

"Hell yeah, Darryl said. "That was…I mean, wow. Perfection isn't even the word."

"Good," Deacon said begrudgingly. "Make me a copy. Rayna's gonna want to hear this."

########################################

Rayna came down to the living room later that night after she'd helped Cash finish his homework and sent him off to bed. Deacon was leaning back against the sofa with his arms behind his head, and there was music coming from the stereo.

"What's this?" she said as she sank down next to him.

Deacon put a finger to his mouth. "Just listen."

And then she answered her own question. "Oh my god, is this Maddie and Rhett?"

The grim look on his face said it all.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and listened attentively. Their voices together were mesmerizing, the perfect blend.

"Babe, this is good," she said, stunned. "I mean _really_ good. Potentially number one hit good."

'I know," Deacon muttered. "I hate it."

"Oh come on now," she laughed softly.

"Ray, you didn't see them looking at each other," he grumbled. "It reminded me…."

"Of us? Is that such a bad thing? Then being like us, I mean?" Rayna said teasing, leaning up and kissing him gently. "We didn't turn out so bad now, did we?"

"No," Deacon admitted. "But I still don't like it. Maddie got hurt so bad by Jake, I don't want to see her go through that again."

"To be honest," Rayna said with a sigh. "Maddie's only 2 years younger than I was when she was born, babe. By the time I was 25, I'd spent 6 years on the road and made three records. You're gonna have to accept that she's not your little girl anymore."

"She'll always gonna be my little girl."

Rayna rolled her eyes and smiled. "I just don't know what you're gonna do some day when she goes off and gets married and makes us-."

"Don't you dare say it, Ray. Don't even say the word."

#############################################

**3 weeks later… **

"So you talked to Rhett lately?" Rayna asked casually as they stood on the back porch after a lovely family dinner watching Deacon and Cash throw around a football.

Maddie shook her head slowly. "He left on tour a few weeks ago. Just busy and all, I guess."

She'd never admit it but she was a little disappointed she _hadn't_ heard from him, not even a quick call or a message, and silently berated herself for even thinking that way. This was exactly why she'd resolved not to get involved with any more musicians who spent 90% of their lives on the road.

But she couldn't deny it had felt good singing with him, being with him.

Her mind wandered back to the day they'd left the studio.

_"You got any plans later?" Rhett asked as he walked her to her car in the Highway 65 lot. _

_ "I have an appointment with an agent who wants a couple of my songs in an hour. Not sure how long that'll take," Maddie said as she tossed her bag across the front seat through the open window. "Why, what's up?" _

_ He shrugged, leaning against the side of the hood of her red Mustang. "You like to dance?" _

_ "Honestly?" She laughed. "No. I'm just fine watching everyone else do it. I'd make a fool out of myself if I tried to dance." _

_ "Good," Rhett said, his mouth turning up into a grin. "I'll pick you up at 7." _

_ "for what? I just told you I don't dance!" _

_ "Neither do I," he said easily. "Come have dinner with me tonight. And make fun of all the idiots on the dance floor at the Wildhorse." _

_ She hesitated, paused standing there leaning against her closed car door. "Rhett, I mean…singing with you is one thing, but…I don't date musicians. And you and me…it would just be…weird, wouldn't it?"_

_ Rhett straightened, and took a few steps towards her. "Maddie," he said, reaching up to touch her cheek with his hand. "How are you ever going to know what's out there if you don't learn to take chances?" _

_ She didn't know what to say to that. So she just said yes. _

Maddie's face flamed now thinking about it, and she hoped her mom hadn't noticed.

They hadn't made it as far as making fun of those dancers. Hell, they hadn't even made it to dinner, or much past the door out of her apartment for about three days, until he'd had to leave again to go back on tour. They'd both agreed not to put a label on whatever it was, but it was just…good for now. And she'd be forever grateful that Rhett had given her the push she needed to find her way back to her music. She'd even been seriously reconsidering the thought of making an album.

"Well, I have," Rayna admitted. "Talked to him, I mean."

Maddie jerked her head up. "What?"

Rayna handed her a folded up stack of papers. "Remember that song you and Rhett recorded a few weeks ago? Country radio wants it like yesterday. They're all fightin over who is going to get it first."

"And Rhett wants to release it? Not sell it to anyone else?"

"Yep," Rayna said with a smile. "He says nobody else is getting their hands on it. He already signed on the line. Just waiting for you now."

Maddie took a deep breath. "You really think we're good together, Mom?" Because of course, she trusted her mother's opinion, and Deacon's, more than anything.

"Yeah," Rayna said softly. "I do, Maddie."

Somehow she suddenly realized her mom might not just be talking about the song.

Taking a deep breath, Maddie took the pen handed to her and scrawled her name across the bottom of the paper.

Satisfied, Rayna folded it up and went back into the house.

Her hands a little shaky, Maddie reached for the phone in her pocket and scrolled through the contact list for Rhett's name.

_Guess we're about to have a hit song,_ she typed in. _Mom gave me the paperwork. Signed, sealed, and delivered._

She expected a response maybe, but was surprised and pleased when her phone rang a few minutes later, and his name showed up.

Glancing at her dad and her brother, still far off across the yard, she hit the answer button to the skype call, and his face came on the screen.

"Hey there."

"Hey, beautiful," Rhett's green eyes were mischievous, his low baritone floated back at her, with that teasing southern drawl that made her bones melt a little. "Just one hit song, huh? That's all I get?"

Maddie smiled. "We'll see. How's life on the road?"

"Same as always. But I got a surprise for you."

"What? What is it?"

"You'll find out. Just make sure you're listening to Bobby Bones tomorrow. I'll be on with them in Austin," he said, gesturing behind him. "I gotta go, though. Soundcheck in a few minutes."

"You're such a tease," she laughed softly. "How m' I ever gonna sleep tonight?"

He just gave her another big smile, and then the call cut off.

##########################################

Maddie sat curled up in the living room windowseat of her apartment with a contented sigh, morning cup of coffee in her hand, the radio turned on nearby.

_This is ridiculous_, she thought. _That I'm so excited_. _He's probably just gonna play the first copy of that song. _So much for her resolution to not get involved with musicians.

Her heart jumped a little when she heard the popular deejay announce that Rhett Harper was in the studio. She smiled, listening to the banter back and forth before the conversation turned.

"This is a new one," Rhett was saying. "First time I ever played it on air. It's kinda about someone special, and I know she's listening."

The guitar riffs started, and Maddie listened intently, expecting to hear "You and Tequila", but it was a different song entirely.

_ Caught up over coffee, then walked around town _

_Some sidewalk singer was layin it down _

_ We started dancing right there on the curb _

_ Thought to myself man there's something bout her. _

_ Makes me wonder _

_Why we're not in love _

_ Well I been thinkin' bout her _

_ Still cant tell ya why _

_ And I know is that it's hard to say goodbye _

_ I got on the airplane, you got in your car _

_ Looked out on that city wondering where you are _

_ And if you're feeling like me just a little bit sad _

_I already miss you now what's up with that _

_ Makes me wonder why we're not in love. _

By the time she got done, there were tears streaming down her face. With shaky hands, she grabbed her phone off the end table nearby, and sent him the best response she could think of.

_I'm starting to wonder that too. _

_**Okay okay, I admit it, I've been binging on Kenny Chesney this week **____** The K.C songs were "Come Over,", "Makes me Wonder", and "You and Tequila" (K.C and Grace Potter.) Thanks for reading!**_


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